


Never Date a Straight Girl

by kirani



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bisexual Female Character, Bisexual Female Character of Color, Bisexuality, Break Up, F/F, Female Character of Color, Female-Centric, Fluff, M/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-28
Updated: 2016-06-28
Packaged: 2018-07-18 21:27:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7331227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kirani/pseuds/kirani
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Morgana Pendragon had one rule: never date a straight girl. Straight girls will fuck you up. But when Gwen Smith burst into the coffee shop she was studying at, her first thought was not a clean one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Never Date a Straight Girl

**Author's Note:**

  * For [astraria](https://archiveofourown.org/users/astraria/gifts).



> For the amazing Astraria who inspired me with her love of Morgana.  
> "Morgana is a precious fragile flower who recedes into herself and distrusts everyone the moment she's hurt. She shows a lot of spikes but they're there to cover up the damage. I think characters like her who appear so tough but are really rather fragile, and already damaged, bring out extra protective emotions in me."

Morgana Pendragon had one rule: never date a straight girl. Straight girls will fuck you up.

But when Gwen Smith burst into the coffee shop she was studying at, her first thought was not a clean one.

Gwen was dating Lance, a fellow student at Camelot University, and was as straight as they come. Unfortunately she was also unbelievably gorgeous and Morgana couldn’t help but wish she was even a little bit gay.

Gwen stomped up to the counter where their mutual friend Merlin was twirling a pen and staring into space. Immediately he snapped out of it when he saw Gwen.

After a hurried whispered conversation, Merlin stepped out from behind the counter and gave her a tight hug, guided her to a chair, and promised her a nice calming tea.

As he bustled around, Morgana called over to her.

“Bad day?”

Gwen whipped her head towards Morgana and she could see Gwen had been crying.

Morgana blushed. While both girls were friends with Merlin, they had never been close, probably due to Morgana’s crush on Gwen and subsequent inability to string more than two words together in her presence most days.

“Lance and I broke up,” Gwen said softly.

“I’m so sorry,” Morgana said, rising from her seat to join Gwen at her table.

Gwen shook her head and her curls bounced. “I should have seen it coming, he’s too noble. I just want to be a psychologist. He wants to save the world. We were bound to have this fight eventually.”

“What happened?”

“He wants to join the Peace Corp,” Gwen said.

“Oh, that’s nice.”

“He wants me to go with him. Finish school and drop off the face of the earth for two years. I couldn’t do that to my dad.”

Morgana reached over and rubbed circles on Gwen’s back, just as Merlin approached with chamomile tea. He raised a single eyebrow at Morgana but didn’t say anything.

“Here you are, Gwen, nice cuppa to sort you out,” Merlin smiled. “You need anything else you just ask, alright, love?”

Gwen nodded and pulled the steaming cup of tea towards her.

~

Seeing Morgana at Merlin’s coffee shop wasn’t out of the ordinary, she was often to be found buried in a pile of textbooks with an espresso at her side. But seeing someone studying with her? That was odd.

So when her brother Arthur came in one day to drop off Merlin’s dinner he had forgotten (and steal a kiss while he was there), he nearly dropped his delivery in surprise.

“Is that Gwen Smith canoodling with my sister in the corner?” he whispered to Merlin.

“They’re not canoodling!” Merlin blushed. “They’re studying. Gwen’s been here a lot since her and Lance broke up.”

Arthur raised an eyebrow.

“They’re just studying!” Merlin insisted again.

Arthur turned around and leaned against the counter, watching his sister and her friend. They did appear to be studying. But Arthur would have to be blind to not know Morgana had a huge crush on the woefully straight Gwen Smith.

Merlin pressed a coffee into his hands. “Studying.”

Arthur nodded with a smirk, kissed his boyfriend on the cheek, and left.

~

“Just ask her out, Morgana!” Merlin said with a huff. They had been talking about Morgana’s crush on Gwen – even though Morgana insisted it was nothing – for nearly an hour, and Merlin was frankly tired of the subject.

“No, I don’t date straight girls!” Morgana insisted. “Straight girls fuck you up!”

“Yes, I know, you’ve said,” Merlin said. “Has it occurred to you that Gwen is not actually straight?”

“She just dated Lance! And she dated Arthur freshman year!”

“Yes, Arthur, your gay brother. To which I can personally attest.”

“Ew,” Morgana pulled a face.

“Also, has it not occurred to you that there is more than gay and straight? Maybe she’s bi.”

“Name one girl she’s dated,” Morgana argued.

“She hasn’t dated any girls, doesn’t mean she’s not bi. Or even a lesbian. Not everyone figures it out as quickly as you, Miss Came-Out-At-Thirteen.”

“Has she said anything to you?”

“No, but she knows I’m friends with you, she might not want to say. And trust me, I know Gwen. She doesn’t look at friends the way she looks at you.”

~

“Okay, I’m just gonna come right out and say it,” Gwen said one afternoon at the coffee shop.

Morgana dropped her pen and looked up.

“Not that I don’t enjoy your company,” Gwen said. “But I kind of have an ulterior motive for studying with you.”

“Oh? What’s that?”

“Well, I’ve been trying to get up the courage to ask you out.” Gwen blushed a deep scarlet. “I just haven’t been able to. So here goes. Would you like to get dinner with me tonight?”

“Of course!” Morgana exclaimed. “I mean, yeah, sounds great, I’d love to.”

Gwen giggled and began gathering her things. “Well, I’ve got to get going, I’ll pick you up at 6:00?”

“Perfect,” Morgana grinned again.

~

Arthur waltzed into the coffee shop the next day because Merlin had again forgotten his lunch, and Merlin motioned to the back room.

“They’re canoodling now!”

“Who? Morgana and Gwen?” Arthur craned his neck to see them.

“Don’t look!” Merlin hissed as he pulled him further into the back room. “They went on a date last night and from the looks of things it went really well. Neither of them will admit anything but I think they’re both really into each other!”

“Brilliant. Can we get out of the supply closet now?”

“Prat,” Merlin said as he shoved Arthur back out to the café.

~

“Sooooooo,” Merlin drawled when Morgana had left for class.

“So what?” Gwen asked.

“So, how’d your date go?”

“I told you, I don’t want to talk about it! Morgana’s your friend and it would be weird.”

“Oh come on, Gwen, I told you about Arthur and you _dated_ the guy!”

“Yeah, but you waited like 3 weeks until you told me, to make sure it was gonna last. I don’t want you to get all excited about us as a couple until it’s more solid.”

“Well, too late, I already am.” Merlin pouted. “So spill!”

Gwen rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, alright, it went really well,” Gwen relented. “We went to this little Italian restaurant on Main Street and she actually ordered the wine in Italian. Did you know she spoke Italian?”

Merlin nodded.

“Right, so we got this amazing red wine, and the food was amazing, and why am I telling you this, you just want to know if we hooked up.”

Merlin nodded more vigorously.

“Well, sorry to disappoint, but no. She kissed me goodnight. But we’re taking it slow. This is her first relationship in a while, and I just ended things with Lance last month, and… I honestly think she’s a little afraid she’s an experiment again. She said some school friends did that to her, asked her out just to say they’d had a “lesbian experience” then went back to dating boys and left her heart-broken.”

“Yeah, her rule is “Straight girls will fuck you up.” She’s weird about that kind of thing. By the way, how did I not know you like girls?”

Gwen blushed. “I like both. It’s just… easier to date boys.”

“And Morgana?”

“Have you seen her? She was obviously into me and she’s insanely hot, how could I not ask her out?

Merlin just laughed.

~

The next day found Morgana and Gwen once again studying in the coffee shop. Morgana kept stealing glances at Gwen. Neither of them had said anything about it since the date two days ago, though Morgana had felt it went well.

Maybe Gwen was waiting for her to make a move? Couldn’t hurt.

“Do you want to go see a film tonight?” she blurted out.

“I’d love to,” Gwen smiled.

~

“That was _awful_ ,” Gwen laughed as they walked out of the theater.

“Oh thank God,” Morgana said. “I thought it was just me!”

“Nope, complete waste of film.”

“The company was nice though,” Morgana smiled.

Gwen smiled back and reached out to take Morgana’s hand.

“The best.”

“Would you...” Morgana trailed off, motioning vaguely to one side.

“I’d love to.”

Morgana gripped Gwen’s hand a little tighter and turned down a side street to her apartment.

~

“Make yourself at home,” Morgana called over her shoulder, tossing her keys down and striding into the kitchen.

Gwen stood in the center of a small sitting room with a laptop charging on a desk, and a loveseat in front of a low coffee table. She wasn’t sure where to sit. The loveseat seemed presumptuous but the desk... awkward.

“It’s not much, but it’s home,” Morgana reentered.

“It’s lovely.”

“I’m afraid all I have is some merlot,” she held up the bottle and a pair of glasses.

“I love merlot,” Gwen beamed.

Morgana smiled and popped the cork out of the half-empty bottle deftly, pouring generous portions into the two glasses before handing one to Gwen.

“To never seeing that movie again!” Gwen cried ceremoniously.

“Cheers!” Morgana laughed, clinking her glass against Gwen’s.

They each took a long drink.

“Oh my God that’s good,” Gwen sighed.

“Did you think I would keep bad wine around?”

“No, I suppose not,” Gwen laughed.

Morgana motioned to the loveseat and settled herself next to Gwen, sitting sideways to face her, one leg hanging off the cushion and the other tucked under her. Gwen curled up cross-legged facing her.

“I really like you,” Morgana admitted, suddenly shy.

“That’s good, because I really like you, too,” Gwen smiled.

“Can I kiss you?”

Gwen grinned wider and nodded. Morgana leaned forward and pressed her lips against Gwen’s. She tasted like wine and popcorn. Hesitantly, she darted her tongue out to taste Gwen’s lips, which immediately opened to her. She tilted her head and deepened the kiss.

~

Arthur opened the coffee shop door and surreptitiously glanced to where he assumed Morgana and Gwen would be pretending to study. But Gwen was alone.

Her curls bounced as she looked up suddenly, checking who had entered.

“Oh, hi, Arthur,” she said, clearly disappointed.

“Waiting for someone else?” he teased.

Gwen rolled her eyes.

“Merlin’s in the back, I think,” she changed the subject.

“He can wait,” Arthur shrugged, taking a seat beside Gwen. “I swear he forgets his lunch on purpose some days.”

“How’ve you been?” Gwen smiled.

“Not as good as you, if the rumours are to be believed,” he winked.

Gwen blushed scarlet.

“You’ve got my sister walking around in a daze, you know.”

“I have?”

“Don’t play innocent with me, Guinevere Smith, you know she’s crazy about you.”

“Then why hasn’t she called?” Gwen sighed, checking her phone which lay on the table beside the book she had abandoned.

“Something happen?”

“I don’t know,” Gwen bit her lip. “We had a lovely date the other night, and then... nothing. I don’t know what I’ve done.”

“Do you want me to talk to her?” Arthur asked softly.

“No!” Gwen answered quickly. “We’ve only been on two dates, maybe she just... doesn’t want to be with me. I’d only make it worse, getting you involved.”

Arthur looked sadly at his friend.

“Look, I know I’m supposed to be protective of her, but my sister can be a real jerk, especially when she’s scared. If she hurts you, I will smack a bitch.”

“Spoken like a true gay man.”

Arthur scoffed melodramatically, “Did you doubt me?”

“Not for a moment,” Gwen smiled.

~

Morgana paced back and forth in her living room.

She had conned Merlin into coming over after his shift with promises of homemade baked goods and he now sat on the loveseat following Morgana with his eyes as she wore a pattern into the carpet, crumbs scattered across his trousers.

“Morgana, just _call_ her.”

“I can’t,” she said for the tenth time that evening.

“And why, exactly, can you not call the girl you are clearly crushing on who is clearly crushing on you?”

“How do you know that? Did she tell you?” Morgana stopped pacing to stare at her friend.

Merlin rolled his eyes.

“ _Call._ ”

Morgana stared at him a moment longer, then resumed her pacing.

On the coffee table between them, Morgana’s phone rang.

“Is it her?”

“It’s Arthur. Probably wondering why his sister has kidnapped his boyfriend.”

“What?” Morgana said sharply, answering the phone.

“Hello, sister dearest. Care to explain what’s going on?” Arthur’s voice answered, ignoring her tone.

“Nothing’s going on,” she spat.

“You won’t answer Gwen’s calls and you’re holding Merlin hostage. Something is going on.”

“Jeez, why does everyone know my business?” she half-shouted into the phone, hanging up on him.

“Morgana, love, come here,” Merlin patted the cushion beside him.

Morgana looked at the cushion longingly then shook her head and resumed pacing.

“Morgana!” Merlin was on his feet now. He grabbed Morgana’s arms, stopping her mid pace.

“Let go!”

“No! Tell me what’s wrong!”

To his surprise, Morgana burst into tears.

Merlin folded her into his arms and let her cry.

“It’s alright, it’s all gonna be alright,” he whispered soothingly.

“It’s Katie all over again,” she sobbed into his shirt.

“Oh, love, no,” Merlin soothed again. “Gwen isn’t after some notch in her belt. Katie was a no-good— ”

“I loved her!” Morgana interrupted, looking at Merlin now. “I loved her and she used me!”

“I know, love,” Merlin said. “But that’s not what’s happening here. Gwen cares about you. _I_ care about you. I would never let you get hurt like that again, especially not by one of my own friends.”

Morgana sniffed and wiped away a few tears.

“Promise?”

“I promise,” Merlin nodded solemnly. “Gwen Smith is crazy for you and she wants to be with you. And she wants you to _call her_.”

“You’re a good friend, Merlin,” Morgana sniffed.

~

“Hey,” Morgana stood next to Gwen’s table in the coffee shop, even though she hadn’t seen her come in. She was wearing a stained jumper and threadbare jeans.

“Hey! Are you okay? I was worried about you,” Gwen said without thinking.

“Yeah,” Morgana said unconvincingly. “Can we go somewhere and talk?”

“There’s no one here...” Gwen said, looking around.

“Merlin.”

Sure enough, Merlin was peeking out of the back room, trying not to be noticed as he eavesdropped.

“Fair enough. We can go back to mine, it’s just around the corner.”

“Great.”

~

Morgana fidgeted with the hem of her jumper as Gwen opened the door of her flat and admitted them.

“Here’s the thing,” Morgana began, but then couldn’t figure out what else to say.

After a moment of watching her, waiting for an answer, Gwen motioned to the table.

“Why don’t we sit down?”

“Alright,” Morgana consented.

She sat and continued fidgeting with her jumper.

“What’s wrong?” Gwen asked quietly.

“I really like you,” she began again, but again ran out of words.

“You mentioned that the other night. I really like you, too. Hence all the kissing,” Gwen tried to joke, but Morgana still stared at her hands in her lap.

“I’m scared.”

“Of what?” Gwen asked.

Finally, Morgana looked up and met Gwen’s eyes.

“How much I like you. I’ve never been this... into someone,” she finished lamely.

“Me neither,” Gwen reassured her.

“Not since... well it was a really shitty time, let’s just leave it at that.”

“Alright,” Gwen agreed.

“And I’m afraid of getting attached to you and... something happening.”

“What kind of something?”

“Merlin says I’m being stupid, says you aren’t that kind of person, that you’re sweet and kind and generous, and I know all of this, but I can’t stop thinking... What if?” Morgana dropped her gaze back to her lap.

“Hey,” Gwen said softly, and Morgana looked up at her again. “I can’t promise it’s going to be easy, or that everything is going to work out, but I promise I will never hurt you like she did.”

“You don’t even know what she did,” Morgana refuted.

“I know she hurt you and she did it on purpose and you haven’t forgiven her,” Gwen said, “and you shouldn’t. And I want you to know I would never do that. I would never hurt you. I couldn’t.”

“Oh my god, you’re serious, aren’t you,” Morgana gaped at her.

“Cross my heart,” Gwen swore.

Suddenly Morgana was up from her chair and leaning across the tiny table to kiss Gwen hard.

When they broke apart, both women were panting. Morgana blushed and made to sit back down, but Gwen stood and pulled her in for another kiss, tangling her fingers in the soft hair at the back of Morgana’s neck.

Morgana broke the kiss and leaned her forehead against Gwen’s.

“You’re amazing, you know that?”

“Definitely you,” Gwen teased, smiling up into Morgana’s pink face.

“Kiss me again.”

Gwen was happy to oblige.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I’m on the tumblr at merlinisnotover.


End file.
